Creating A Hypertext Link

Just how do you create a link to another website, page or email?

The following will show you how to do it in no time at all, just follow these easy-to-understand hints and tips!

How to create a hyperlink to another page. It's a set tag format that's part of the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). Once you learn the format, you can make as many links as you want to any other page you want.

Example: The code below would create a link to the my Twitter address - Follow me @andreweldridge

<A HREF=http://twitter.com/andreweldridge>Follow me @andreweldridge</A>

To create a link to your address you can simply and the target address in between the quotes then adjust the text that will be diplayed over the link

<A HREF="http://twitter.com/YOURTWITTERADDRESS">Follow me @yourtwitteraddress</A>

Here's What's Happening

• A stands for Anchor. It starts the link to another page. HREF stands for Hypertext REFerence. That's a nice, short way of saying to the browser, "This is where the link is going to go."
• http://twitter.com/andreweldridge is the FULL ADDRESS (URL) of the link. Also notice that the address has an equal sign in front of it and is enclosed in quotes. Why? Because it's an attribute of the Anchor tag, which is a command inside of a command.
• Where it reads "Follow me @andreweldridge" is where you write the text that you want to appear on the page. The text in that space will appear on the page for the viewer to click. So write something that denotes the link. /A ends the entire link command.

Here's what will appear on the page using the command above...

Follow me @andreweldridge

Now, without clicking, simply lay your pointer on the underlined words. You'll see the address of the link you created at the bottom of your browser window, down where it usually reads "Document Done".

What Text to Use in The Link?

There are two ways of looking at this. One suggests that what you write for links should be quite blatant which would appear in text like "Click here for this" or "Here's a link to...". While the other view states that since the hypertext links will be blue (or whatever color they're set to), the links should be just another word in the text set up as a link.

E-Mail Links

Known as a mailto: command. It follows the same coding scheme as the hypertext link above. What this format does is place blue wording on the screen that people can click to send you an This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Here's the pattern:

<A HREF=mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >e-mail</A>  

You will see that it's the same format as a link except in this link you write "mailto:" in place of the http:// and you place your e-mail address in place of the page address/URL.  You still need the </A> tag at the end but please notice there is NO SPACE between the colon and the e-mail address.

Here's what you get using the "mailto:" command above:

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This is a bogus email address but you can go ahead, click on it. I know you're dying to. You'll get an e-mail dialogue box Ficticious.  At this stage my visitors will be able to contact this address. The same thing will work for you. Just place your e-mail address in place of this one following the format above.

Two things you need to keep in mind and be very careful when using this:

• If the person only has a web-based email account, and hasn't configured an email program on their computer (e.g. if you use Hotmail or Gmail instead of Microsoft Outlook) then it will open their email program for the first time and try to walk them through setting it up. This isn't a good idea if they're new to computers...
• There are also little programs out there called 'bots' which wander round the internet looking for email addresses to send spam (junk emails) to. If you don't want to receive them (and nobody does), then one part of the solution is not publishing your email address on the internet. So think long and hard before you use a mailto! A web-based form that they can fill out is more secure and works just as well.

If you are looking for a contact form of any kind where you need to gather information from your site visitors to help you process their requirements I can build you one to your specification in just a few days.

I'll be posting a link here over the coming days with more details:  Meanwhile you can contact me via my simple contact page and I'll get back to you as soon asap.

Don't forget to use this info above to add your Twitter addy to my testimonials page so you can reach more followers.